1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stand for mounting coin-operated telephones and other coin-operated machines such as vending machines, slot machines, and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
At present coin-operated telephones are often mounted upon upright stanchions or walls such that the telephone projects laterally outwardly from a generally vertical surface, such as a vertical wall or other support, several feet above an underlying surface. Coin-operated telephones are configured generally in the shape of rectangular prisms having a height dimension several times that of their width or depth. Very typically a coin-operated telephone is housed within a rugged, durable exterior casing having an outer width dimension of about eight inches, an exterior depth measurement of about six inches, and a height of about twenty-four inches. Because coin-operated telephones are often mounted in unattended locations, their outer casings are fabricated of strong steel both in an attempt to prevent vandalism and also to deter tampering by thieves seeking to steal money from the pay telephone coin box.
In a typical coin-operated telephone the coin box is located in the lower section of the casing beneath the communications mechanism and circuitry and beneath the coin feed, coin processing, and coin return operating mechanisms. A coin-operated telephone typically has an internal coin box that is accessible to authorized personnel by means of a coin box door in the front of the exterior casing. The coin box door requires a special key for access. Coins ace periodically retrieved from the coin box by telephone company personnel who travel to each coin-operated telephone location, open the coin box with the special key, remove the coins which have accumulated in the coin box, and close and lock the coin box access door.
Despite the fact that the exterior casings of coin-operated telephones are of rugged construction and are designed to resist tampering, they have proven to be increasingly vulnerable to ever more unscrupulous and audacious thieves.
In a typical telephone mounting system the telephone casing is mounted to the exterior surface of a generally vertical support, such as a telephone booth wall, or a post in the ground by bolts which project through the back wall of the telephone casing and which are secured to the supporting vertical structure. The heads of the mounting bolts are normally inaccessible to thieves since the upper front portion of the telephone casing must be removed from the remaining portion of the casing in order to gain access to the heads of the mounting bolts. The upper front portion of a conventional, coin-operated telephone casing is secured to the internal frame of the telephone box by means of a specialized bolt that requires a specialized tool for removal. Design precautions have been taken in the construction of coin-operated telephones to minimize thievery of the coins collected in the coin boxes therein. Nevertheless, thieves have become ever more ruthless and aggressive in devising systems for stealing the coins collected in coin-operated telephone boxes, as well as coins collected in comparable machines, such as gumball and other article vending machines, and slot machines.
In a typical coin-operated telephone installation, the lower surface of the rectilinear casing of the telephone is disposed horizontally several feet above a supporting surface, such as a concrete slab which may be the floor of a telephone booth, pavement, or a concrete base in which a supporting post is set. Thieves have developed a technique for looting coin-operated telephones by taking the entire telephone, casing and all, from the site at which it is installed for service, to an isolated location. There, the thieves gain access to the coin box through the use of brute force that destroys the telephone casing. That is, such thieves may beat the casing apart with sledgehammers, or even use explosives to destroy the integrity of the coin box so as to gain access to the coins collected therein.
Thieves are typically able to readily remove a coin-operated telephone from the site at which it is installed by taking an inexpensive piece of wood, such as a four inch by four inch post section approximately two to three feet in length, and positioning the wooden post section upright atop the lifting pad of an automotive vehicle jack when the jack is in its retracted position. The thieves then operate the automotive vehicle jack to raise the lifting pad thereof beneath the wooden post section in the same manner as the jack is used for lifting a vehicle for changing a tire.
With the large vertically upwardly directed force that can be developed with an automotive vehicle jack, the upward force of the jack is transmitted vertically through the wooden post and readily shears off the shanks of the bolts holding the telephone casing to its mounting structure. The thieves can then easily rip out the connections of the electrical communications lines and escape with the entire telephone to a site where they then destroy the telephone and loot the coin box.
The losses generated by coin-operated telephones looted in this manner are not limited merely to the fifty or sixty dollars worth of coins that are typically collected in a coin-operated telephone collection box prior to retrieval by authorized personnel. Indeed, this loss is quite minimal when compared to the loss of the entire coin-operated telephone.
A further technique in thievery used to steal money from coin-operated telephones involves tampering with the coin return mechanism. According to one technique a thief will take a flammable plastic wrapping material, such as that used to wrap foods for household storage, and force a wadded quantity of this material up into the coin return chute located above a coin-operated telephone coin return tray. In this way coins that would otherwise be returned to legitimate users are trapped within the coin return chute. The thief then returns several days later, or even several weeks later, and used a cigarette lighter or match to ignite the flammable material that has been wadded up into the coin return chute. The material thereupon burns and disintegrates, thus releasing the coins that have been trapped above it. The thief then absconds with the released coins.